BackgroundThe sport of sailing, known as yachting, has a long history of contributing to the social and economic structure of Britain as befits its island status. With so many activities requiring fast vessels, developments in the sport have translated into improvements throughout its history, such as:
And, of course, many public figures and celebrities have been involved with the sport through their sporting successes or philanthropy. During the period of commercial sail, yachting provided considerable employment for crew and a support infrastructure that developed the skill base and craftmanship in our yards to the extent that Britain became the foremost shipbuilding nation in the world. Developments to improve yacht performance advanced the design and seaworthiness of all types of vessels and the development of innovative equipment improved boat handing and crew efficiency. The quality and prestige of major yacht-building projects enhanced the reputation of Britain's yards and enabled them to compete world-wide. Yachting has also contributed significantly to war efforts with experienced crew and navigators as well as vessels. For instance, when Germany was not allowed a Navy, a fleet of yachts were built to train seamen and airmen, especially in navigation, a fleet that was subsequently brought back to Britain as the "Windfall Yachts" and used to train our servicemen around the world. As an equipment-based sport, even now the sport of sailing, sail and power, contributes £5.85 billion to our national economy through industry and regional and economic benefits (BMF, 2007), with a significant export contribution, and is still pushing the boundaries of the capabilities of new materials and their application. And, the sport continues to excite as our sailors compete widely in International Championships and the Olympics making no small contribution to National pride. The legacy of over two hundred years of yachting is a vast collection of material of historical importance reflecting the innovativeness that is characteristic of this community. The British National Yachting Archive has been established as a virtual archive, to provide a window on this resource and to ensure the proper preservation of documents and artefacts. However, it is also apparent that some material does not have a natural home, and the Archive will endeavour to either place it with a suitable host organisation or provide suitable archival storage. There is concern that material is being lost as businesses close and storage demands become too great, so an alert system is provided to "rescue" such material. Similarly, we are at a time when those who were a part of the pre-war community and the huge post-war growth in sailing and have been extremely influential in their time are aging rapidly and much of their knowledge needs to be obtained by interview. The reason for developing the Archive is to consolidate what is known about the community - it has impacted every part of Britain and, although "National" in its formation, sailing has always been very international with designers, builders, owners, etc. combining from across the globe so "British" material could exist almost anywhere. And, in learning about the achievements of British sailors, it is necessary to learn about their international compeititors and their relations with international events, organisations, designers and builders, etc. The Archive will enable researchers and educationalists to make best use of the material without spending unnecessary time tracking down something that may or may not exist. To this end, the longer term aim is to provide access through the digitisation of material to improve retrieval by users. Resources will be added to assist projects such as school projects researching local history as well as assisting researchers with more academic intent. | |